Liquid-level indicator



April 14, 1925. 1,533,138

W. SOKOLOF .ET AL LIQUID LEVEL INDICATOR Filed D80. l 2 1921 .g 111 15 1111- 4 ZIP-*5 L INVENTORS William L 519K172 $0.111 well "Pros-fan BYTHEI YATTORNEY 23 as 9W2 M Patented Apr. 14, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE.

WILLIAM SOKOLQF AND SAMUEL rnnsron, or BRooKL N, NEWYOIRKL LIQUID-LEVELInnIoA'ron,

Application filed December 12, 1921. Serial No; 521,830.

p the objects of it are:

First: To enable a gasoline gauge to be placed at the front ofan'automobile when the gasoline tank is situated at the rear of theautomobile; 3

Second: To have the above gauge ac? curate to a very high degree; and

Third: To have'our indicating mechanism simple, durable andcomparatively inexpensive.

\Ve attain these objects by the mechanism, illustrated in theaccompanying drawings or by any mechanical equivalent or obviousmodification of the same.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a vertical section on the broken line 11 ofFig. 4, the view being partly broken away, and showing the'inner partsof the mechanism in elevation;

Fig. 2 is a View of the dial and frame of the gauge, looking from lefttoright in Fig.

Fig. 3 is'a plan or top view of the gauge mechanism which is enclosed inthe casing '35, hereinafter described;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional-plan on the line 44 of Fig. 1; andFig. 5 is a vertical section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4 through the mainspring 26 and casing 23 thereof, which are hereinafter more'fullydescribed, but showing the spring as consisting of but a fewconvolutions, for the sake of clearness.

Similar numerals refer to similiar parts throughout theseveral views:

11 designates the gasoline tank, which has mounted thereon the housing12, which may be secured to' the top of the tank by means of the flanges13 and suitable fastenings,

' I which are omitted from the drawings.

1414 are a pair of vertical guide rods, WlllCll are shown in Flg. 1 assecured to the tank 11 and housing 12 by having the upset portions 15threaded and screwed in position in the tapped openings in the top ofthe tank 11; the lower ends of the rods 14 rest in the notches 16 in thebottom of'the tank 11, and the upper ends of the. rods 14 pass throughthe top of the housing l2and have the nuts 17 secured thereto, the nutsresting against the top of said housing 12.

18 is afloat, which may have the slides 19 either made in one therewithor secured thereto, which slides are in engagement with the said rods14, thereby guiding the float in its motion in a vertical direction.

20-is an inextensible chain or band, which. v

is shown as passing through the opening 21 in thetop of the tank 11, andit is connected 1 at its loweriend to the said float 19; ithas' itsupperend connected to and wound upon.

the primary drum 22; the length of said band or chain 20 is suflicientto allow the float 18 to reach the bottom of the tank 11. The drum 22 ismounted on the shaft or spindle 25, which has also mounted thereon theauxiliary drum 24 which serves as an extension of the primary drums 22,and shown in Fig. 5 as connected to the inner I end of the clock spring26, the outer end of which is connected tothe spring-casing 23, bothconnections being made by means ofthe set screws 49. The spring 26ma yhave agreat many more convolutions than as shown in, Fig. strained.

Either the shaft 25 may be kept station:- ary, while the casing 23 isrotated with the and is preferably initially drums 22 and 24, or thecasing 23 may be secured in position and the shaft 25 with the drums 22and 24 rotated; in the latter ase the spring would have to be inclinedin the opposite direction from that shown in Fig. 5 in each case thespring would resist 7 the rotation, which would be produced by theweight of the float 18 and slides 19;and the force of the spring wouldbe'assisted by the buoyancy of the partly immersed float '18, thebuoyancy would vary -with' the amount of gasoline displaced by thefloat,

the float 18; this variation in the degree of immersion of the float 18will, however,

be much reduced through the influence of an auxiliary spring acting in,opposition to the main spring26, as :is hereinafter described.

The drums 22 and '24 are secured to each other and, whether connected tothe shaft 25 or to the casing 23, will always rotate together and act asone drum.

The auxiliary drum 24 has connected thereto and wound upon it one end ofthe I bearings 38,1.and it has secured thereto the 20 bevel gear 41. Thesecondary drum 36 has bevel gear 40, which is in mesh with the securedthereto the spring casing 39, which is adaptedto enclose the auxiliaryspring, which is also preferably initially strained and may be in allrespects similar to the main spring-26, only weaker than the'latter, andarranged to act in opposition thereto and its action on thesecondarydrum 36 causes the'latterto take up the slack of the band -orchain 27,when the latter is un- 'wound from the auxiliary drum 24, and the bandorchain 27, when wound upon the auxiliary drum 24, turns said'secondarydrum 36 against the tension of the auxiliary spring in said casing 39.In either case, the mo tionof the secondary drum 36 is communicated tothe'pin43 by means of the said bevel gears 40-41, which are shown inFig. 3 by their pitch cones, to which pin 43 the bevel gear 41 isconnected, and both are supported in position by the bearing 44,

which, may be secured to the body of the automobile. 1 I

. Said secondary drum 36,with the. gears 40 and 41, and the springcasing 39 are enclosed by the housing 35, and the pin 43extendstherefrom into the frame 42, and. it has connected thereto at its outerend the index 45, which points to the insignia 48 on the'dial'46, whichis contained in the rear of said frame 42, the front thereof beingclosed by 'theglass pane 47 y The insignia 48 .on said dial 46 may benumbered to correspond to the volume of gasoline inthe tank 11 atdifferent times,

and the exact volumes'may be determined by experiment. I

The force of the said auxiliary spring in the casing 39 acting inopposition to the main spring 26 will modify the-balance of forceshereinbefore described making the resultant forceof the two springs lessvariable; in

the mechanismas 'shown by the drawings the weight of thefloat and slidesis arranged to balance the'resultant of the forces of both the mainspring 26 and the auxiliary spring, which is contained in the casing 39,in addition to the buoyancy of the float which will be less variable asthe resultant force of the springs 26 and 39 will be less variable; thesize of the float 18 may, therefore, be compal-atively small, as thevariation ofthe degree of immersion will be small.

The float 18 may be inserted into the tank 11 through an opening in thetop of the latter; but, when there is no opening in the top of the tank,one may be formed in the bottom thereof, and the opening may be keptnormally closed by the plug 50, as shown in Fig. 1.

-The'tank 11 may be situated at the rear of the automobile, and the tube28 may extend to the front thereof.

" The tube 28 is shown in Fig. 1 as. broken off and connected at oneendthereof tothe Instead of a uniform chain or band 27 we 1 propose toemploy a chain for eachof the parts of the transmitting means, whichpass over the drums 24, 31 and 36, and the intermediate, parts mayconsist of rods or wires.

Many changes could be made in the details of our Mechanism forIndicating the biles, without departing from the main scope of ourinvention; we do not, therefore, restrict ourselves to the details asshown in the drawings; but we intend to include also all mechanicalequivalents and within the scope of our invention.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. In a mechanism for indicating at the front of an automobile thevolume of gasoline in a'tank situated at the rear of an automobile afloat, a flexible means for suspending the float within the tank, aprimary drum fo windin said means thereon and a main spring foractuating said drum situated above the float, an index at the front ofthe automobile, a secondary drum oper atively connected to the index andsituated at the front of the automobile, a flexible means fortransmitting the motion from the primary drum to the secondary drumduring the rising of the float and an auxiliary springconnected to thesecondary drum to act in opposition to the main spring and to take upthe slack of the transmitting means when the same is unwound during thefalling of the float.;

2. In a mechanism for indicating the volume of gasoline in a tank of anautomobile .Volume of ,Gasoline in Tanks of Automoreasonably obviousmodifications of the same a float suspended Within the tank, Verticalguide rods in the tank to keep the float in a vertical path, threadedupset portions on said guide rods to be screwed into tapped openings inthe top of the tank, thereby securing said guide rods in position, aflexible means for suspending the float, a drum for float, an index anda means for transmitting 10 the motion from the drum to the index.

SAMUEL PRESTON. WILLIAM SOKOLOF.

